Karla Gaye Chapman during jury selection in the opening day of her murder trial. (Brian Lawson/blawson@al.com)

Karla Gaye Chapman was sentenced this morning to 35 years in prison for the 2010 stabbing death of her husband at their Hazel Green home.

Jonathan Elliff was stabbed in the liver and bled to death. His mother, Evelyn Peters spoke briefly at the sentencing hearing, telling the court she had no closure because Chapman has shown no remorse and hasn't accepted responsibility.

She said her son was a good person who'd made some bad choices and "the worst one was you," she told Chapman.

"I will spend the rest of my life missing him," Peters said. "I hope and pray the court gives you the longest sentence possible."

Chapman had claimed she stabbed Elliff after he attacked her. She testified he held a knife to her throat, before she pushed him away and grabbed the knife before he could pick it back up. When asked what happened next, she testified, "I stopped him."

Her attorney Bruce Gardner said this morning she had a strong self-defense claim, but she had given investigators a number of different versions about what happened, and the jury was not persuaded.

Chapman asked for mercy from Circuit Judge Chris Comer, telling him she was "fighting for my" life the night Elliff was killed.

Madison County Assistant District Attorney Tim Gann asked the court to give Chapman a sentence on the "upper end" of the 20 years to life sentencing range. The murder conviction means Chapman will have to serve at least 85 percent of her sentence, a minimum of 29.75 years in prison.

Gann said the sentencing request was based on how Elliff died.

"I didn't feel the minimum sentence was appropriate in this case because of the way the victim suffered before he died," Gann said. "It was a senseless act, stabbing him in the liver and letting him bleed out. It was excruciating for him. She has never expressed remorse for killing Jonathan.